Mrs.Radha Venuprasad, v. Ms.Shilpa Pillai
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 04.02.2021
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE P.N.PRAKASH AND THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE V.SIVAGNANAM Radha Venuprasad .. Petitioner Vs.
1.Shilpa Pillai 2.V.T.Vijayamma Pillai .. Respondents Contempt Petition filed under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, to initiate criminal proceedings against the respondents/contemners under Section 15 r/w 2(c) of the Act, ibid.
For Petitioner :
Mr.S.Mahesh Kumar For Respondents :
No appearance
ORDER
[Order of the Court was made by P.N.PRAKASH, J.] The contempt petition has been filed to initiate criminal proceedings against the respondents/contemners under Section 15 r/w 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 (for brevity "the Act").
2.
Shilpa Pillai, first respondent herein, got married to Ram Venuprasad and later, they got estranged. Shilpa Pillai is said to have moved to London and is permanently residing there.
3.
Ram Venu Prasad initiated a divorce proceedings in H.M.O.P.No.1606 of 2014 and an ex parte order was passed in his favour by the III Additional Family Court, Chennai. While that being so, Shilpa Pillai is said to have filed a case bearing Case No.ZC14P00348 in the Central Family Court, London, against Ram Venuprasad, wherein, she is said to have made the following allegations:
"the court process in India is extremely slow and frustrating"
4.
That apart, Shilpa Pillai, in her Facebook page is said to have posted the following allegations:
"Of course Ram who beats up his wife and let his mother abuse me. Never taken care of his own child, rather of taking child to hospital he was sitting at home and chatting over the phone for hrs. Now pays money and gets an ex-parte order, is truly a brilliant man, isn't it Mr.Praveen (advocate)? There will be no door. I still believe in justice. I will fight my battle till the end.
Ram was given ex-parte order on 7th Oct. 2014. I suspect that the Judge was influenced by Mrs.Radha Venuprasad and her legal team and it was apparent throughout the proceedings."
5.
Aggrieved by the above post, Ram Venuprasad's mother Radha Venuprasad approached the Advocate General of the State of Tamil Nadu in Contempt Petition No.1 of 2015 seeking sanction to prosecute Shilpa Pillai for the aforesaid offensive post.
6.
The learned Advocate General, by order dated 30.06.2016 in Contempt Petition No.1 of 2015 has granted his consent under Section 15(1)(b) of the Act, for initiating contempt proceedings against Shilpa Pillai and her mother Vijayamma Pillai. Hence, this contempt petition is before this Court. 7.
Heard Mr.K.T.Shankara Subramanian, learned counsel for the petitioner, who submitted that the aforesaid allegation does lower the esteem of the Indian judiciary in the eyes of the general public. 8.
We carefully considered the same. Though the Advocate General has granted consent, it is always open to this Court to analyze the case in toto
and take an independent view, as to whether, further proceedings require to be taken under the Act.
9.
The dispute is essentially a matrimonial one between Shilpa Pillai and Ram Venuprasad. Both of them are litigating in various Courts demanding the scalp of the other.
10.
A reading of the above Facebook post merely shows that the same has been done more out of frustration than on account of any malafide intention to derogate the judiciary. Such a stray post in one's Facebook page, can, by no stretch of imagination reduce the prestige of this Court in the eyes of the public, as respect and reverence for the Court amongst our populace rests on firm foundation.
In view of the above discussion, this contempt petition is closed. SD/- ASSISTANT REGISTRAR(COMM.CASES) nsd //Certified to be true copy// Dated at Madras this the day of 2021. COURT OFFICER(O.S.) from 25th day of September 2008 the Registry is issuing Certified copies of the Orders/Judgments/Decrees in this format.
GS/20/04/2021